Cat-Trans will only pick up passengers at designated stops. File Photo

Students enrolled in entrepreneurship and civil engineering technology programs at Southwestern Community College will be able to transfer seamlessly to complete related bachelor's degree programs at Western Carolina University in just two years of study under a pair of articulation agreements recently signed by leaders of the two institutions.

One agreement allows graduates of SCC's online entrepreneurship program, which is being offered for the first time this fall, to transfer that academic credit toward a bachelor's degree in entrepreneurship at WCU. The second agreement allows graduates of SCC's civil engineering technology program to transfer that credit toward WCU's bachelor's degree in construction management.

SCC President Cecil L. Groves and Vice President for Instructional Services Gene C. Couch Jr. met with WCU Chancellor John W. Bardo and other university officials for a signing ceremony on Monday (Aug. 3.)

"The partnership represented in these two agreements will make study in the critical areas of entrepreneurship and construction management more accessible to students who are our future leaders in business and economic development," WCU Provost Kyle R. Carter said. "At a time when so many traditional manufacturing jobs have moved overseas, small business entrepreneurship and new construction offer hope for our continued economic competitiveness across this state."

Thom Brooks, SCC's dean of career technologies, said the school's new associate of applied science degree in entrepreneurship will directly support local economic development and job creation.

"Our focus is to foster the entrepreneurial spirit, which we recognize that our students in this region have," Brooks said. "Of course, we'll support them with a strong business foundation, practical applications and hands-on learning, but we'll take that support beyond traditional course work to an atmosphere of helping them apply their visionary, creative and critical thinking skills as self-employed business owners."

WCU was the first university in the state to offer bachelor's and master's degrees in entrepreneurship. The programs are housed in the College of Business' Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

The first graduate of SCC's associate of applied science program in civil engineering technology completed the program last December. The program provides students with technical and management skills to help design, build and manage many kinds of construction projects. Students in WCU's construction management program learn to plan, direct, coordinate and budget activities involved in the construction and maintenance of structures, facilities and systems. WCU also offers a fully online master's degree program in construction management.

For more information about entrepreneurship programs at the two schools, contact WCU's Louis Buck at (828) 227-3798 or SCC's Thomas Brooks at (828) 586-4091, ext. 202. For more information about WCU's construction management program, contact George Ford at (828) 227-2519, and for more details concerning SCC's civil engineering technology program, call Jeanette White at (828) 586-4091, ext. 427.

For more information about admission or transferring to WCU, contact Brooke Roberts, senior assistant director of admission, at (828) 227-7317.